Google’s Desktop Search adds Sidebar

Is that 30" LCD just begging for more widgets to make use of all that space? …

Google's "beta" Desktop Search application graduated (no, not from beta status) to version 2.0 (beta). 2.0 packs plenty of new features, the majority of which are related to the new Sidebar. Just in case you have screen real estate to burn, the sidebar provides all manner of widgets, albeit in a less flashy but more resource-friendly way than Yahoo's recent acquisition, Konfabulator. The sidebar gives you the option of viewing recent e-mail (G-Mail is supported, and so is Outlook), news headlines, weather, stocks, and photos (local and online), plus it provides a little scratch pad for notes. Perhaps best of all, there's a published API, so anyone can write new widgets.

There's more interesting stuff, too. Quickfind enables a live search that shows results as you type, and it also accepts a number of keywords to quick launch applications. For example, you can type "display" to find the display control panel, or "Word" to find the application.

The new features that will get the most talk are News and Web Clips. Both use the pages that you surf to help determine which headlines to show you. News will be populated with stories that your surfing habits indicate that you might like, while Web Clips will be populated by RSS feeds that Google finds on the pages you visit. You can disable this functionality, if you prefer. I find it a tad bit creepy myself.

One feature that I definitely appreciate is the new Outlook integration, which allows you to search within Outlook without having to switch to Google Desktop. The support includes a sortable interface that I much prefer to the older, webpage format. On the other hand, the sidebar's own Email widget is of limited use for Outlook users. It shows the most recent e-mail you've been sent, but if you delete an item from your Inbox, it is not removed from the widget's list. Right now it's showing me 5 e-mails that are no longer actually in my Inbox. Furthermore, if you have rules setup to move e-mail, the widget will nonetheless show you items as if they were in your Inbox, despite having been moved.

When Yahoo purchased Konfabulator, we wondered what Google's response would be. This is clearly it, and it's not entirely surprising. Microsoft has been showing off a "sidebar" for Windows Vista from time to time, although it is not entirely clear what its final form may look like. But the stakes are clear: searching for information, plus leveraging search technology in order to push content to users, is big business. As I said when Google's Desktop Search was initially unveiled last October: Microsoft had better watch out.

Google Desktop Search is still only available for Windows XP or Windows 2000 SP 3+ users.

Oh no!

Ken Fisher / Ken is the founder & Editor-in-Chief of Ars Technica. A veteran of the IT industry and a scholar of antiquity, Ken studies the emergence of intellectual property regimes and their effects on culture and innovation.